We can. But what and to what extent?

The work that I do forces me into being well organized. Organization of time being on top of the list. For this reason, thru the years, I had to find ways which allow me to keep all aspects of the work under control. I could do with an astute office manager or personal assistant, but until I find one, I depend on various gismos or gimmicks. And I admit. I buy Apple products.

For three reasons:

1. Their performance demonstrates very good ROI; In other words, they are functional.

2. They are stylish and elegant.

3. I like Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

And he is someone I’d like to talk to you about today. Even if you are a user of Apple devices yourself or if you are not, you probably know Steve Jobs.

If you take a look at his (abridged) CV, you can see that “he’s been there and has done that”. He started as a college dropout and a weekly visitor of local Hare Krishna temple, where he would get free meals only to later become a co-founder of Apple, one of the most successful corporations, which designs, among other things, consumer electronics.

It’s more than obvious that “being there and doing that” includes many highs and lows on his lifeline.

But this is not really why I like him, although I find his life very interesting. It’s his charisma that I find so very enchanting. And although some of you may disagree with me, I don’t really mind. Because considering someone as charismatic is a purely subjective judgement.

Can we learn how to become  and be charismatic?

I actually started thinking about that, because I have to design a communication program entitled “Communication for Leadership”.

So, when I asked my husband, a licensed NLP trainer himself, what I could include in the program he said: “If you are a leader or a manager or a head, above all, charisma can help a great deal!”

I was about to start barking at him, but then I started thinking. More than that. I actually gave his reply a second chance. And it turned out that all the charismatic leaders had something in common – they knew how to communicate to people. Who doesn’t know the “I Have a Dream” speech of Martin Luther King or “I Am a Berliner” of JFK? And Churchill’s speeches at the Parliament during the World War Two?

So, I checked how wikipedia.org defines charisma. To summarize the definition charisma is a composition of power, magnetism, excellent capabilities of interpersonal communication and superior ability to put forward concepts and arguments.

And I went back to Steve Jobs and his (public) speaking skills. Have you ever seen any of his public appearances? He started his speech (or one of) at a distinguished Stanford University by telling everybody that he was a college dropout. And I still clearly remember mocking one of Apple’s competitors in such a subtle way that even the competition themselves couldn’t blame him. Basically, he turns a speech into an emotional experience and a business presentation into an adventurous show. Wearing jeans.

So, answering the question asked before, whether we can learn to become charismatic, I can say that we can definitely learn how to communicate to people in different settings and that this can considerably help building charisma. Nevertheless, it is not enough.

The truth is that a recipe for charisma does not exist, but if someone insisted I could add two other ingredients besides excellent speaking/communication skills: know who you are and be humble.

And maybe then, but only maybe can we appear on a stage to address an audience of five hundred business suits wearing – jeans J.